The Devil in the White City

PART I: FROZEN MUSIC

The Black City

“Never before: Miller, 511.

“The parlors and bedrooms: Ibid., 516.

“a human being: Ibid., 193.

“The Trouble Is Just Begun”

It was this big talk: Dedmon, 221.

“the hawks, buzzards: Chicago Tribune, July 24, 1889.

“The men who have helped: Chicago Tribune, August 2, 1889.

“The gloom: Chicago Tribune, February 24, 1890.

“Gentlemen. I am prepared: Ibid.

“the records of the Old Central: Hines, 402.

“I went to Harvard: Ibid., 11.

“greatest architect: Ibid., 12.

“There is a family tendency: Miller, 315.

“My idea: Sullivan, Louis, 285.

“There is a black sheep: Letter, Daniel Hudson Burnham, Jr., to Charles Moore, February 21, 1918, Burnham Archives, Charles Moore Correspondence, Box 27, File 3.

“A long wait frightened us: Monroe, Poet’s Life, 59.

“so completely happy: Ibid., 60.

“probably not equaled: Miller, 321.

“our originality: Moore, Burnham, Architect, 1:24.

“if,” he said, “the earth: Ibid., 1:321.

“The building throughout: Ibid.

“What Chartres was: Hines, 53.

“who will not have an office: Miller, 326.

“Daniel Burnham Hudson was: Starrett, 29.

“Make no little plans: Ibid., 311.

“I’ve never seen: Miller, 319.

“His conversational powers: Ibid., 316.

“I used always to think: Ibid., 317

“The office was full: Starrett, 32.

“The work of each man: Miller, 318.

“that Gordian city: Lewis, 19.

“a gigantic peepshow: Ibid., 136.

“I did it: Burnham to mother, undated, Burnham Archives, Burnham Family Correspondence, Box 25, File 2.

“You must not worry: Burnham to Margaret, February 29, 1888, Burnham Archives, Burnham Family Correspondence, Box 25, File 3.

“The coroner: Burnham to Margaret, March 3, 1888, ibid.

“Burnham was not pleased: Sullivan, Louis, 294.

“smear another façade: Morrison, 64.

“an innocent: Sullivan, Louis, 291.

“He was elephantine: Ibid., 288.

“When may we see you: Chicago Tribune, February 25, 1890.

“The most marvelous exhibit: Ibid.

“Chicago is like: Chicago Tribune, February 27, 1890.

The Necessary Supply

His height was: Franke, 24. Franke reproduces an image of a “Rogue’s Gallery” file card with details of Holmes’s weight, height, and so forth as entered by Boston police upon his arrest.

“The eyes are very big: Schechter, 282.

A telegraph pole: Englewood Directory, 37.

“While at times: Sullivan, Gerald, 49.

Holmes entered the store: Mudgett, 22–23; Schechter, 13–17; Boswell and Thompson, 81. See also Town of Lake Directory, 217.

“an elemental odor: Sinclair, 25.

“river of death: Ibid., 34.

“I had daily: Mudgett, 6.

“Nor did they desist: Ibid., 6

“mother’s boy: Ibid., 199

“twelve-year-old sweetheart: Ibid., 200.

Mudgett’s only close friend: Schechter, 12.

“itinerant photographer: Mudgett, 7.

“Had he next proceeded: Ibid., 8.

“I kept it for many years: Ibid., 8.

He enrolled: Ibid., 14.

“the first really dishonest: Ibid.,15.

“I could hardly count: Ibid., 16.

Eventually he came to Mooers Forks: Ibid., 16; Chicago Tribune, July 31, 1895; New York Times, July 31, 1895.

“Some of the professors: Franke, 118.

“In the fall of 1885: Mudgett, 17.

“This scheme called for: Ibid., 19.

“the necessary supply: Ibid.

“This,” he said, “necessitated: Ibid., 20.

“and for the first time: Ibid.

The owner of the house: Chicago Tribune, July 31, 1895.

“This,” he wrote, “was my first: Mudgett, 21.

“The city had laid: Dreiser, Sister Carrie, 16.

“there was such a rush: Sullivan, Gerald, 14.

In 1868 a Mrs. H. B. Lewis: Ibid.

“To the business men: Catalogue, 3.

“My trade was good: Mudgett, 23.

He put up a new sign: Franke, 210.

“Becomingness”

A friend of Burnham’s: Ellsworth to Olmsted, July 26, 1890, Burnham Archives, Box 58, File 13.

“I have all my life: Rybczynski, Clearing, 385–86.

“flecks of white or red: Olmsted, “Landscape Architecture,” 18.

“I design with a view: Rybczynski, Clearing, 396.

“Suppose,” he wrote: Olmsted to Van Brunt, January 22, 1891, Olmsted Papers, Reel 22.

“we are always personally: Roper, 421.

He was prone: Rybczynski, Clearing, 247–48, 341

“My position is this: Ellsworth to Olmsted, July 26, 1890.

Certainly that seemed: Articles of Agreement, 1890, Olmsted Papers, Reel 41; Rybczynski, Clearing, 387.

“When can you be here?: Telegram quoted in Olmsted to Butterworth, August 6, 1890, Burnham Archives, Box 58, File 13.

“Having seen it: Chicago Tribune, July 7, 1890.

a man they could work with: Codman to Olmsted, October 25, 1890, Olmsted Papers, Reel 57.

“It is to be desired: Olmsted, Report, 51.

“a man of the world: Sullivan, Louis, 287.

“she patted the mortar: Chicago Tribune, November 2, 1890.

Root, according to a witness: Miller, 316.

“While in school: Chicago Record, December 16, 1893, McGoorty Papers.

“He got smart: Chicago Record, December 15, 1893, Ibid.

“murky pall: Chicago Tribune, November 16, 1890.

“Don’t Be Afraid”

“Ambition has been the curse: Schechter, 238.

“His presence: Franke, 112.

“It is said that babies: Ibid., 112.

The building’s broad design: Philadelphia Public Ledger, July 22, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 1895; Chicago Tribune, July 17, 21, 23, 25, 27, 28, 29, August 18, 1895; New York Times, July 25, 26, 29, 31, 1895.

“There is an uneven settlement: Chicago Tribune, July 25, 1895.

The high rate of turnover: Ibid.; Schechter, 28–29.

“I don’t know: Franke, 95–96.

At first, Latimer said: Ibid., 43.

“In a general way: Geyer, 26–27.

“fine physique: Trial, 145.

“Come with me: Schechter, 25.

“Pitezel was his tool: Trial, 449.

Captain Horace Elliot: Englewood Directory, 36.

To the buyer’s chagrin: Schechter, 36.

City directories: Englewood Directory, 179, 399; Franke, 40.

“He was the smoothest man: Franke, 42–43.

“I sometimes sold him: Ibid., 111.

“Don’t be afraid: Chicago Tribune, July 31, 1895; New York Times, July 31, 1895; Franke, 110.

Unlike most Americans: Chicago Tribune, July 26, 1895.

An advertisement: Hoyt, 177.

Pilgrimage

Immediately the directors: Burnham and Millet, 14–17; Burnham, Design, 7–9; Monroe, Root, 222–23.

“at once cheap wooden quarters: Burnham to Committee on Buildings and Grounds, December 1, 1890, Burnham Archives, Box 58, File 3.

“It may not occur to you: Burnham to Davis, December 8, 1890, Burnham Archives, Business Correspondence, vol. 1.

“cut to the quick: Monroe, Root, 235.

“feeling confident: Moore, Burnham interview, 3.

“McKim, damn your preambles: Moore, McKim, 113.

“To himself: Monroe, Poet’s Life, 115.

“They all approved: Burnham to Olmsted, December 23, 1890, Olmsted Papers, Reel 57.

“they said: Moore, Burnham interview, 3.

“Burnham had believed: Sullivan, Louis, 319.

“I think he, Adler: Moore, Burnham interview, 4.

“He said he was tired: Inland Architect and News Record, vol. 16, no. 8 (January 1891), 88.

He was depressed: Monroe, Root, 249.

“He felt that this: Ibid., 249.

A Hotel for the Fair

In a parody: Boswell and Thompson, 81.

When Myrta’s great-uncle: Ibid., 80; Schechter, 235; Chicago Tribune, July 27, 1895; New York Times, July 29, 1895; Philadelphia Public Ledger, July 29, 1895.

Holmes returned to Englewood: Boswell and Thompson, 80.

“Beside his own person: See Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed.

Half a century later: Cleckley, 369.

People exhibiting: Millon et al., 124.

“When I went to bed: Schechter, 235.

“Presently,” Belknap said: Ibid.

“I refused to open: Ibid.

“If I’d gone: Boswell and Thompson, 80.

He planned to install: Chicago Tribune, July 30, 1895.

The manager of the furnace company: Franke, 94–95

“the necessary amount of heat: Ibid., 94.

“In fact,” he said: Ibid.

These clerks: Philadelphia Public Ledger, July 27, 1895.

The Landscape of Regret

The eastern architects left: Hunt to Olmsted, January 6, 1891, Olmsted Papers, Reel 58.

Two hours before: Moore, McKim, 113; Chicago Tribune, January 11, 1891.

“It was one: Moore, Burnham Interview, 3.

“they gazed: Burnham, Design, 24.

“remote and repulsive: Ingalls, 142.

“sandy waste: Bancroft, 46.

“If a search had been made: “A Report Upon the Landscape,” 8, Olmsted Papers, Reel 41.

“it became almost: Burnham and Millet, 45.

The park’s gravest flaw: “A Report Upon the Landscape,” 7, Olmsted Papers, Reel 41.

“a feeling of discouragement: Burnham and Millet, 5.

“Do you mean to say: Hines, 82; Moore, Burnham interview, 4;

“He went down to the office: Monroe, Root, 259.

“looking ill: Starrett, 47.

“ill almost unto death: Monroe, Poet’s Life, 113.

“After the 15th: Ibid., 260.

“Oysters: Chicago Tribune, January 11, 1891.

“Gentlemen,” he said: Poole, 184; Moore, Burnham, Architect, 43.

“The men left: Burnham, Design, 26.

“In talking with them: Monroe, Root, 249; Monroe, Poet’s Life, 113.

Vanishing Point

After years spent: Chicago Tribune, July 21, 23, 24, 26, 28, 29, 1895; Philadelphia Public Ledger, July 22, 23, 27, 1895; Boswell and Thompson, 83–84; Franke, 98–101; Schechter, 39–44.

“I shut the door: Chicago Tribune, July 28, 1895.

“a mysterious disappearances: Chicago Tribune, November 1, 1892.

Fannie Moore: Ibid.

J. W. Highleyman left: Ibid.

Cheyenne: Ibid.

Alone

“Himself not especially: Sullivan, Louis, 288.

“It soon became noticeable: Ibid., 320.

“Hell,” he snapped: Ibid.

“Burnham came out: Ibid.

“The natural dominance: Baker, Hunt, 398.

“the function created: Sullivan, Louis, 290.

“In each firm: Ibid., 288.

“John Root was: Ibid.

“I haven’t escaped sickness: Monroe, Root, 261.

“Mr. Root is quite low: Burnham to Boyington, January 14, 1891, Burnham Archives, Business Correspondence, Vol. 1.

“am able this morning: Burnham to Boyington, January 15, 1891, ibid.

“You won’t leave me: Moore, Burnham interview, 5.

“Do you hear that?: Ibid.

“I have worked: Monroe, Poet’s Life, 114.

“most distinguished architect: Chicago Tribune, January 16, 1891.

“There is no man: Chicago Tribune, January 17, 1891.

“It’s all nonsense: Chicago Tribune, January 25, 1891.

“I was born: Philadelphia Inquirer, April 12, 1896.